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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22827883">The Cold Trail</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstressedDwight/pseuds/AstressedDwight'>AstressedDwight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dead by Daylight (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Detectives, Character Death, Detectives, I am killing a lot of people, Major character death - Freeform, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, first archive fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 13:07:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,677</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22827883</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstressedDwight/pseuds/AstressedDwight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bill Overbeck has been of the force for a chunk of his life, so he understands that sometimes it's best for some people to stay missing in a way.<br/>Especially when said people had vanished without a trace only to be found freshly dead years later under mysterious circumstances.<br/>Now Bill and his partner Ace have been told to figure out what the hell happened to these people during the time that they where lost.<br/>Only the more they dig, the less they understand.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Cliffside John Doe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The look of true terror is something that very few people can say they have seen on another person’s face, and as far as I’m concerned it’s better that way. The kid couldn't be more than twenty but the look on his face only reminded me of a kid. Eyes bulging and face screwed in an expression that sent a chill down my spine even with all my years on the job.<br/>
Leaves crinkled to my left as I began to reach for my pack.</p>
<p>“What’s the load up on this one?” </p>
<p>“Awww, no greeting this time? An’ jus’ when I was finally breakn’ that damned wall of yours.”</p>
<p>My eye twitched in irritation as I looked over.<br/>
“Some time today visconti.”</p>
<p>“I was getting to that. From what we coul’ gather the victim was male, early twenties at most an’ is recently deceased. A couple had been backpackin’ on an established trail near evening not even a fifth of a mile from here when they heard a scream.”</p>
<p>Ace sent a quick glance at the body before looking off into the brush.</p>
<p>“They say they tried to call out but got no reply. Fearin’ some tourist had decided to get off the trail an’ gotten themselves hurt,they went in and looked around. Soon as they noticed the cliff, they contacted the troopers who searched around an’ who then contacted us when they found the body.”</p>
<p>Flicking my lighter I glanced at my partner, a frown firmly placed on his usually easygoing face.</p>
<p>“Any word on the victim's identity or a cause of death?”</p>
<p>Ace dragged his eyes over the clearing before landing back on me.</p>
<p>“Jury's still out on both accounts, a Dna sample and prints were swiped earlier by forensics but no word yet if anything has came from it. As far as the others are concerned it looks like the fall got ‘em.”  Ace answered in a clipped voice.</p>
<p>I’ve known Ace Visconti for roughly two years now and worked beside him for half that time and that tone is something that rarely left his lips.</p>
<p>Something is wrong.</p>
<p> Taking a drag from my cigarette, I turned to face him.</p>
<p>“Is something eating at yah? You seem a bit distracted.”</p>
<p>Ace tried to smile in reassurance but it was something so forced that all it did was convince me that my worries were with some ground. Ace must have noticed what little it was doing to lighten the situation and proceeded to drop it before looking once again at the clearing before landing on the body.<br/>
“Something is botherin’ me about this.”<br/>
That got an eyebrow raise.<br/>
“I’m serious! Haven’t you looked around the scene?”<br/>
Of course I had done so, but still humored them with another glance. The clearing was situated just at the foot of a steep cliff, roughly 30 feet in radius of just plain dirt with small patches of grass. The cliff itself was large and jagged from years of abuse from mother nature. Painted on it’s side were three large splatters of bright red, each getting progressively larger before the final one that led to the corpse. The man’s lifeless ragdoll of a body was situated in the center of the clearing. Clothes caked in blood and limbs positioned in a way that suggested broken bones. His neck would suggest the same thing even with such a thick scarf on, it lolled his head an unnatural angle that fixed the corpse’s stare unwaveringly at our position.</p>
<p>“It honestly just looks like a classic fall to me..”</p>
<p>“That’s jus’ it Bill.”</p>
<p>And much to my dismay Ace grasped my arm and started jostling it.</p>
<p> “Mr. John Doe here looks like he’s been ripped straight out of one of the textbooks at the academy. “</p>
<p>“Your point Visconti?”</p>
<p>“My point in all this is tha’ it’s perfect but not.”</p>
<p>He made a point to widen his eyes at the word not and I decided it was best for me to wrassle out of his grip before  he dislocated my shoulder again. </p>
<p>“Ace you got ten seconds to start making sense before you need to make up a new plan on how you’re getting back to the office on time.”</p>
<p>“This is a classic textbook case of a fall but the thing is people don’t just end up fallin’ without a reason. Like what is he doin’ out here?I’m not buying tha’ story about hiking. I mean, he has nothin’ on ‘im.”</p>
<p>“So you’re suggesting suicide?”</p>
<p>“No I mean, there is nothin’ on him. We’ve checked his pockets, no note, no phone, no ID, no keys, not so much as a piece of lint an’ unless he was hallin’ trash than there’s nothin’. This place is popular, but it’s ten miles from the nearest civilization, an’ the parkinglot’s cameras were checked. No sign of ‘im entering.”</p>
<p>That caught my attention.</p>
<p>“Unless he was walking through 37 miles of wilderness, without any gear, then he somehow got past 18 strategitly placed cameras without so much of a shadow only to end up here. That seems unlikely in of itself.”</p>
<p>Ace vigorously nodded  before piping up.</p>
<p>“An’ that’s not all, Get pas’ all the blood an’  you realize how clean the body is.Like I was taking the samples earlier an’ I mean it when I say he might as well came out of the bath as far as I’m concerned. Those splats are big an’ the cliff ain’t very smooth. But there’s no dirt, not bits of rock, not even a single blade of grass on ‘im.”</p>
<p>I felt my eyes start to wonder in unease as at that proclamation. You can’t throw a man off a high place without some debris sticking. Another glance at the cliff brought another thing to my attention.</p>
<p>“Hey Visconti, Think I’ve noticed something too. How long has it been since the time of death?”</p>
<p>“Well, the couple came back to the station around 6:45 last night, an’ the cliff  is roughly a 15 minute hike back to the parking lot. They sent out the rangers not long after, an’ we had to wait till mornin’ to examine.”</p>
<p>“So roughly 12 hours yeah?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, why?”</p>
<p>“Then how in god’s name is the blood still fresh?”</p>
<p>We both turned to face the cliffside. There’s no denying that it looked like someone had just smeared it on. Bright scarlet, yet to start to oxidize, it still was dripping off as we looked.</p>
<p>This wasn’t adding up.</p>
<p>People don’t just appear and blood doesn’t stay red, we needed to get back to HQ.</p>
<p>After loading the corpse up for the transfer to autopsy and collecting as little evidence we could find, we walked back to the lot in a tense quiet. Something was going on and we were going to try to make sense of it all.</p>
<p>I was saying goodbye to the troopers when Ace got the call back from forensics. I caught the tail end of the conversation as I approached the cruiser.</p>
<p>“Shit are you sure about this? An’ this is the same sample? Like the same sample that I gave you. And no one has messed with it?”</p>
<p>Ace placed the bridge of his nose in his fingers as he listened on.</p>
<p>“No I’m not- It’s not that I don’t trust y- do you even realize how crazy tha’ sounds? No. No. I- you really don’t need to drag the chief inta-  alright I’m gunna tell Bill, we’ll have time in the debriefing to know about all the tests you pulled. Bye.”</p>
<p>Before quickly exiting the call from a very angry Laurie.</p>
<p>I quickly snuffed out my cigarette before entering the car.</p>
<p>“So  what did you say that ended up putting Strode in such a tizzy?”</p>
<p>Ace was staring at the dashboard almost in a lost for words.</p>
<p>“John Doe’s prints came back with a match back at HQ.”</p>
<p>I buckled up and began to start the car before taking another glance at Ace.</p>
<p>“Oh? Well, at least that makes it a little easier on us.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think so, yah see he’s been missing since 1989.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>““Bill, have you ever heard of the Park case?”</p>
<p>And that’s when I realized that it was going to be a lot of sleepless nights in everyone’s future  at the office.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Park Case</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Everybody present? Give me the rundown, preferably today people.”</p><p>I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes at  Tapps’ theatrics as he entered the office but started my spiel.</p><p>“The fella’s name was Jake Park, born in 1970, and went missing between May and July of the  year 1989. He was living off the grid in a small cabin in Maine about fifteen miles from the border.”</p><p>“Alright, Ace?”</p><p>“He did have a small wrap sheet, one arrest for the possession of some Mary Jane when he was younger  an’ a few speedin’ tickets. Other than that? He lived a pretty quiet life all things considered. Was the second son of a wealthy family, used as little of that wealth as  he could to buy said cabin an’ never really left unless necessary.” </p><p>“Any family still around?”</p><p>“His mom is still kickin’ as far as I’ve seen,”</p><p>“Bring her in. Laurie?”</p><p>“Got a match on his prints from the arrest Ace mentioned. When it came back I decided to run a dental check while  the blood test was still being done. Both came back as a match as well.”</p><p>As Laurie finished, I decided to bring up the elephant in the room.</p><p>“This is all fine and dandy but are we just going to ignore the glaring fact that the ‘kid’ we toted in is supposed to be almost as old as Visconti? I mean, if we bring in the mum then she’s going to want to see her son. What are we going to say when she notices he doesn’t look a day over eighteen?”</p><p>Tapp sat down at his desk and began to rub his temples. You couldn't help but feel bad for the guy, first big case since the permotion and he was just handed a hornet nest on a stick.</p><p>“I dunno Bill, we’ll just have to burn that bridge when we get to it. Unless someone here has a logical answer they would like to share, that’s all we can do.</p><p>The office fell into a hash quiet after that as we tried to get our collective minds around what was going on. The Park case was the news story that swept the nation up like wildfire back in the day and here we were about to throw a metaphorical gas canister right on it.</p><p>I was contemplating whether or not it was too early in the day to call in my lunch break when Tapp’s  com buzzed to life.</p><p>“Umm Chief?”</p><p>“What’s going on Jeff? Anything to report?”</p><p>“Yeeeaaah, about that.. Um, I don’t really have a good way to explain but I kind of need Laurie and Bill to come down here and help me for a sec.”</p><p>Laurie and I shared a look of confusion.</p><p>“Come again Jeff?”</p><p>“I-well there’s a thing? And-uh I think it needs to be tested.”</p><p>“Ok, I understand Laurie, but why do you need Bill?”</p><p>“Well I, uh. Laurie has made it very clear that she doesn’t like touching the bodies and this thing really wants to stay put.”</p><p>‘Ah shit.’<br/>
I grimmanced. </p><p>‘I guess that settles my plans.’</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>another chapter done!<br/>Thanks for the support so far and I hope you don't mind a shorter story this time around.<br/>This chapter is heavily dialoged so if it's a bit confusing who's talking where mention it and I'll try to clear it up.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Autopsy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As much as I’ve come to enjoy Jeff’s company over the last couple of years, it’s never fun to make a trip to autopsy. The constant smell disinfectant and irony tang seems to infect any object that enters the room and the lack of windows only serves to make the atmosphere that more oppressive.<br/>With all that being said, it’s not a wonder that Jeff enjoys what he does. Helping a good cause while being mostly behind the scenes? It’s right up the kid’s alley.<br/>So to see him is such a state in his weird sanctum was strange to say the least.</p><p>When  Laurie and I entered we were greeted by Jeff pacing around with an x-ray. The wall behind him were covered in more of them from what I could only assume to be our victim. A clearly broken neck and a couple of snapped ribs stuck out from the bunch to my eye.</p><p>“Jesus Christ Jeff, why is he still open?!”</p><p>Laurie’s indigent shriek seemed to grab Jeff’s attention as I peered around her.<br/>In all his glory, one Jake Park sat on the farthest table, in what one could only describe a grizzly sight. <br/>An almost surgical Y styled cut was placed in the center of the body. It started around the boy’s pelvis area and made it to the end of his sternum before separating into two cuts that ended right beside each of his shoulders. The flabs of meat were splayed out showing a missing rib cage along with a removed digestive track.</p><p>There wasn’t much blood from what I could see but it still made my stomach churn a little as I spoke up.</p><p>“Well, I guess lunch is off the menu today.. Laurie, I’m pretty sure this is just par for the course, so just try not to look that way.”</p><p>“Well actually,”<br/>Jeff chimed in <br/>“Usually when you do a full autopsy like this, you take out all the organs for examination, but I um I may have ran into a bit of a snag..”</p><p>“Snag? What Kind of snag can ya run into with this kind of stuff kid?”</p><p>Jeff mentioned for Laurie and I to come as he placed the x-ray in his hand onto the wall.</p><p>“After I heard who our John Doe was I decided an external check over wasn’t enough. I got about roughly most of his internals placed into some solution when I realized how fucked up this dude’s respiratory system was.” </p><p>At that Jeff pressed a couple buttons and a light stated to peer from behind the X-ray.</p><p>“I took these right before I made the first icission and as you can see-”</p><p>“What the hell is that?”</p><p>Laurie blurted out as the picture came to view.</p><p>Clear thick white lines poke out from the center of each lung before severing into different branches. I looked like someone had put a tree’s whole root system inside the poor boy’s lungs.</p><p>“Jeff,”<br/> I rasped out as my eyes flicked from one corner of the scan to the next</p><p>“If this is some elaborate attempt to scare me to quit smoking, then I would like you to please cut the horseshit before I’d have to get the chief.”</p><p>“Wish it was Bill, but pretty positive that it isn’t cancer. It’s too thick, almost like stone, and too regular in shape and concisity. Usually in cancer you  would see a large clump somewhere in the host’s body indicating where it originated, but well..”<br/>Jeff gestured with his hand before shrugging his shoulders.</p><p>“Which brings us to why you’re here! Before you ask, I’ve been trying to cut away one of these suckers for a good two hours. Like I didn’t even make a dent in the flesh by one of these suckers with my scalpel, and I broke a bonesaw trying to break one off. But! I was able to find one far away from the rest that I think I might be able to pry out if I have enough leverage!”</p><p>“Which is why I’m here..”</p><p>“Yeah, you boys have fun I’m going to go stand by the door..”</p><p>And with a gentle pat on my shoulder, Laurie made a quick retreat to the halway.</p><p>“Alright, Let’s get this over with.”</p><p>“Great! Here’s some gear, there shouldn’t be much blood but it’s best we follow code here. All I need you to do is stand by the head and hold down his shoulders.”</p><p>I walked over to the table as I placed a mask on my face.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Anyways hi, thank you for reading. I'm not the best writer and this is mostly unedited so there's going to be some typos in the future. If you see any feel free to let me know and all support is appreciated here.<br/>'Till the next update.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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